122 chapter three
brought across mesopotamia. it is no accident that in the oriental sources
of the age, aleppo is known as “little india.”276
such sources categorically show that even in the first decades after
the mongol conquests, iraq functioned as a commercial link between
the indian ocean and the mediterranean. surprisingly, when we com-
pare these sources to the detailed picture of the levantine trade network
drawn up in the first half of the following century by francesco Balducci
pegolotti, the florentine merchant’s guide makes no reference at all to
this route.277
this observation, taken along with other evidence, proves that there
must have been a restriction of commerce on the tigris and euphrates;
at the same time we can observe an increase in the volume of goods
transported from the persian gulf to the Black sea across persia. the
interdependence of these two processes is self-evident, and the obvious
conclusion is that iraqi commerce dried up, or was rather absorbed by
persian commerce, so that Baghdad became not just politically but also
economically a victim of tabriz.278
there have been all kinds of disagreements over where to look for the
causes of this transfer and the circumstances which brought it about.
the fall of the crusader lands in the eastern mediterranean has been
much-cited,279 while in contrast the political and commercial regime
change in cilician armenia is never mentioned.
276 cf. ashtor, History, p. 300.
277 the omission cannot plausibly be explained as due to a lack of information; pegol-
otti lived in ayas for some time, which according to marco polo was one of the end-points
for the iraqi routes, and could not have overlooked any traffic coming in from that direc-
tion if it had been at all as lively as it had once been.
278 heyd, Histoire, ii, pp. 77–78: “entre Tauris et Bagdad, la nouvelle et l’ancienne capi-
tale, la concurrence sous le rapport commercial ne tarda pas à se dessiner suivant une
progression lente mais régulière. [.. .] en constatant que le mouvement des produits de
l’inde d’orient en occident suit toujours la même direction, par le golfe persique, Basra
et Bagdad, marco polo signale déjà l’existence de relations entre tauris et l’inde. [.. .] en
1307, sanuto rapporte, de son côté, que les produits de l’inde qui traversaient la partie
occidentale de l’empire mongol, pour être expédiés en occident, passaient soit par Bag-
dad, soit par tauris; mais, de son temps, cette voie était la moins usitée; la plus grande
partie prenait le chemin d’alexandrie.” ashtor adopts this conclusion whole-heartedly,
supporting it with the results of more recent studies and concluding, “the trade of tabriz
developed necessarily at the expense of Baghdad, but the decline of irak’s share in the
indian trade was slow” (ashtor, History, p. 264). the same view has lately also been taken
by Karpov, Impero, p. 32.
279 heyd, Histoire, ii, p. 77: “tant que le califat, d’une part, et les états latins, de l’autre,
avaient conservé leur existance propre, tous les produits de l’orient importés par le golfe
persique passaient par Bagdad et arrivaient à la méditerranée par antioche et laodicée;”
ashtor, History, p. 264: “after the establishment of mongol rule, tabriz became not only